Lilac And Emerald
by yoshuareynaldo777
Summary: A collection of Raigh x Sophia oneshots. The stories may or may not be connected chronologically. Rating may be changed depending on future content. Story 7 : Mother. Sophia and Raigh talk about their mothers.
1. A Place to Call Home

**Lilac and Emerald**

Disclaimer : I do not own Fire Emblem.

 **A/N**

 **Alright, time for my long-standing fanfic. I did this fic because I'm a Raigh/Sophia trash (heh heh) and my general bias for Tsundere/Dandere troupe and angst/love filled story. I believed Raigh and Sophia's character give the best output for my favorite troupe. That and the fandom needs more Raigh/Sophia, so why not?**

 **Anyhow, I'll use 'Raigh' for Rei/Ray in this, since official translation came.**

 **This is will be collection of oneshot, it may be connected to each other, or it may be not. And it has no consistent chronology.**

* * *

 **A Place to Call Home**

 **Rating : K+**

 **Genre : Romance, with some Humor in the End.**

 **Pairings ; Raigh x Sophia.**

 **Word Count : 3000+**

* * *

"Now, dear children." A gentle voice asked the group of children in the living room of the orphanage. "What is 'home' to you?"

A boy at the edge of the room looked at the gathering group of children not to far from him. He disliked it whenever Father Lucius gave one of his 'group sermons'. All of the children loved it. Not him though. He never did. Group gatherings is not his preferred pastime. He'd rather read books or magic tomes.

But that question intrigued him. What is home? The quick definition would be a place where you stay permanently. But this is Father Lucius we were talking about. There's got to be some kind of hidden-and-deep meaning behind it.

"A place to stay!" One of the youngest in their orphanage, John, confidently answered.

"That is partially correct, John. But there is another meaning of that word. Anyone knows?" The Father smiled as he looked on the group of children before him. Not for long, one of the children raised his hand.

"Home is the place where you are surrounded by people who care about you. It's a place where you can feel a sense of belonging and a purpose" A boy with green hair and cheerful emerald eyes answered.

"Correct, Lugh!" The Father smiled satisfyingly.

"That is home, everyone. It's a place where you feel a sense of belonging and purpose. Like for example, this house. We are all a family and we loved each other, we cared for each other. That is what home is all about. Understand?"

The kids affirmed in unison, earning a chuckle from the boy.

"Home, huh...?" The distant boy pondered the words for several minutes. He barely knew his parents. All of the memories of them are blurred and the only thing to remember is the locket that his twin brother Lugh has when their parents suddenly left many years ago.

That was his home. But that didn't exist anymore.

He thought that this orphanage was close to what they called 'home', but is it true? There was a part of him that felt that he didn't belong here, even though Father Lucius had been nothing but kind and patient to him.

But is this place really what you called home?

* * *

"...Raigh...?" The soft voice beside him snapped him from his thoughts. Raigh turned to see a long-lilac haired druid sat beside him, holding a magical scroll. That is right. It's one of their 'study sessions'. It had become their habit for quite a long time to study ancient books together. He hated to admit it, but she was far more knowledgeable than him in dark magic, or any kind of magic lore. It is understandable since she lived far longer than anyone else. Of course, he never had the pride to ask her for help. Usually it was her who ended up helping him.

"...Raigh...is something the matter...?" Sophia asked with concern. It was very unusual for him to daydream like that. She was very concerned about him nowadays. She could sense him tensed every now and then. It's as if he was going through an inner struggle.

"It's nothing." He said plainly as he went back to read the book he was reading before. He looked at the girl beside him, who was still looking at him concernedly. The war had ended, battles were won, the Dark Dragon has been saved by the army. He should be at least relieved or so, but why did he felt so perplexed? He had never felt like this before the war ends, and yet, now he somehow couldn't concentrate like he always would.

And why he remembered that old sermon?

Is it because the place he considered close to a home is gone? Sure he planned to travel the world to hone his magic skills, but after that then, what? Would he go back to the orphanage after he gathered the little ones? To live at that place with Lugh and Chad like before?

No. That was not what he wanted.

That was what he intended at first, but he never truly considered that place to be home. He cared for everyone, even the little ones, but...save for Lugh and Father Lucius, he never considered them his true family.

Yet, what is strange is, Raigh felt that he already found that place to call home, and it is not the orphanage. He thought that it was, but he was sure now, that it is not. It's not where he wanted to belong. But he knows where he wanted to go.

And time is running out. The war is over. That means that we will all go to our separate ways from now on. That means...yes. She would go back to her village.

But they went so much through together in this war. Would it just...vanish like the morning mist, leaving nothing but memory? Would the place he now considered home will be just an illusion that this terrible war created?

No. He won't let it happen. He had to tell her. He had found the place to call home, and he will not lose that. Not without a fight.

With that, Raigh stood up.

"Sophia." Raigh called her name. "Come with me to the outskirts. I need to talk, just the two of us." He demanded.

"Eh?" Sophia was quite surprised at Raigh's request. Sure, they sometimes went out the camp, but it is mainly Sophia who wanted to see the 'outside world' and Raigh insisted on coming to made sure that she 'didn't get lost' or 'ambushed by brigands', usually accompanied by Raigh's snarky comments. But this time, he was the one that wanted to talk.

Sophia sensed a strong will beneath his words. She knew that it would be important.

"Alright...where should we go...?" Sophia asked.

"Just follow me." He said firmly.

They both stood and walked towards the outskirts of the camp. They were camped in the heights of Bern, following the war's end, to march towards the capital for Guinevere's coronation, since Zephiel has died. The two Druids walked in silence, neither of them seemed want to start a conversation.

And yet, Sophia's mind is full of things she wanted to question him. A lot of things had been bugging her until now. Maybe it was the same thing he wanted to talk about? She had grown fond of Raigh during this war. Learning spells, studying magic lore, fighting together, protecting each other, sharing weights of their hearts with each other, and many others.

But the war is over. Could they still be together?

She had wanted to ask him for some time now, but she found herself cannot. Maybe she feared that he wanted to leave her. Or maybe she just denied that their time together is limited.

Just when she thought she finally found a person she could gave her heart for.

Just when she thought she could feel right at home whenever she was with him.

Would they put everything they had gone through to waste now?

* * *

"We're here." Raigh's rather gruff voice snapped Sophia out of her thoughts. They walked a bit further to the end of the hill to find a steep cliff facing the center of the Kingdom of Bern.

Sophia widened her eyes at the surrounding panorama. The sight is breathtaking, the hill overlooked a steep cliff that showed the works of nature; mountains, hills, lakes, rivers in which the water flowed into the sea, and at the center of the scenery is the Bern capital and castle, where they previously fought King Zephiel.

"It is...beautiful..."Sophia could not resist commenting on such majestic sight. She grew up in the desert, enclosed in a hidden village for all her life. This was the first time she saw how beautiful the outside world can be. She had been to places before, but no one could compare to the sight of this scenery.

"This is my dream." Raigh stated. "The war is over. I want to start my journey in this land, then all of Elibe. I wanted to study the lores of magic, to delve into the depths of Elder magic, to gain power so I could protect everyone I cherished, and to learn the secret of the Archsage's powers." He declared.

"Yes...that is Raigh's dream...is it not?"

Sophia felt a part of her sank because of his words. That is right. They will go on their separate ways from now on. Which means it's probable that she would never see him again. She had to go back to Arcadia and Raigh will travel the continent to learn the lore of magic. She knew it all along.

But that is life. That is expected. There was a time to meet, and there was a time to say goodbye. She would never convince him to abandon his dream for her. It was selfish. She knew how important that was for Raigh.

But, she hoped, just a small glint of hope in her heart that he would come with her back home, to Arcadia.

"How about you?" He asked as he turned to face her.

"Eh?"

"What do you want to do, now that the war's over?" He repeated his question

Sophia's heart skipped a beat with that question. How could he ask that in the same time she was thinking about him? Maybe she should ask him to stay with her in Arcadia? No. She thought. She shouldn't. She knew how kind Raigh is. He would chase his dream half-heartedly if she asked that.

"I think...i will go back to Arcadia...with Miss Igrene and Fae..."

Raigh sighed upon hearing her answer. "Stupid. You didn't answer my question. I'm not asking WHAT will you do. I am asking what you WANT to do. There is a difference, a big one. Geez, is being an airhead a requirement to be the priestess of Nabata?" He added cynically.

What does she want? That's right. What does she want to do? Does she want to just go back to village and live the rest of her long life peacefully? Or maybe, she wanted something else? Is Arcadia...really the place that she wanted to be?

"...I..." She faltered. "I...don't know...Raigh...i never thought...of it. I always thought that would...go back to Arcadia, but...i don't know, if it's what I really wanted..."

"What do you really want then?" He pushed.

"I..." She couldn't help but to think about him. She wanted to be with him. Just want to stay close to him, no matter what. But she did not have the courage to say it.

"Look, instead of returning to Arcadia, could you..." He swallowed whole before continuing his sentence. "Could you not...just come with me, in my journey?"

Sophia's eyes widened. Did she hear that right? Did Raigh just asked her to come with him?

A light blush appeared on Raigh's face.

"Look, I don't have any place to return to, alright? The place that was close to home to me was gone because of Bern. I don't plan to return there if it rebuilt either. The place I longed for is not in that orphanage. Lugh and Chad may want to return there permanently, but I know I don't want to."

"Raigh..." Sophia spoke his name. She could sense, little by little, the ice that encased that warm heart of his melted. What did he meant by that?

"But I found a 'home', a place to belong. That is the place I want." He swallowed again. He had to summon every last of his willpower to fight his sense of embarrassment. He couldn't look bad in front of her

"And that...is you. The place I want to be is with you." He declared to her. Amazingly, the blush on his cheeks didn't deepen its color by even a bit.

Sophia gasped a little in shock. Suddenly, a surge of emotion, the one that she held and kept inside her heart flew abundantly into her mind. Without her knowing, tears began to flow on her cheeks.

It was his heart that made it so. This is the first time that Raigh is fully honest to her about his feelings. The fondness he gave to her, the heart he gave her, the warmth of his gentle heart was fully manifested at his last words. There was no coldness, no thick ice surrounding his heart. She sensed a protective and passionate flame which she felt, had surrounded her.

"He-Hey!" Raigh panicked as his hand touched her shoulder while his other hand hastily wiped off the tears on her face. "Wh-Why are you crying? Dammit. So you didn't want it after all, huh?" He remarked disappointedly.

"Look, I didn't mean to separate you from your home. If you don't want to, it's alright. I'll come from time to time to see you there." He said as he tried to calm the Nabatan Prophetess down. He was never good at things like this, Elimine knew.

"No...No...It's...nothing like that." Sophia shook her head as she wiped the rest of her tears. What Raigh saw next was her face smiling despite the still falling tears. "I'm just...very happy...Raigh telling me that. Being honest with your own self...it must take a lot of courage..." She sobbed as her smile widened. Why? Why did she felt this way? She never felt this kind of feelings before.

She reached his hand that was on her shoulder and she held it firmly between them. If she had doubts before, it was gone now. He had shown her his courage, she had to do the same.

She wanted to come with him. He is where she wanted to be, He is the place that she called home.

Now Raigh really could feel his cheeks reddening deeply. His so-called willpower really didn't last that long.

"Wh-What's with this hand?" He said as he felt the softness and warmth of her hand that brushed through his fingers.

"...I too...wanted to stay with Raigh...i feel the same way...you are my home...I wanted to go with you...to stay by your side...As you achieve your dream...i want to be there with you...Because, the reason you wanted to chase your dreams...is for my sake. I...wanted to come with you on your journey."

Sophia said as her tear stopped overflowing, smiling widely at him.

Raigh was forced to look away as the blush on his cheeks deepened considerably. Suddenly her smiling face became a very force that the boy could not stand. "I never said that! I said i just wanted to learn the lore of magic!"

Sophia giggled a little. He reverted back to his old self. But she knew he wanted to study the Elder magic and the secrets of age of the Archsage Athos for her. He wanted to protect her, he wanted to stay for eternity with her. He wanted her to not be sad anymore. He knew the weight, the darkness of her heart. And he wanted to get rid of that.

That is reason enough for her to come with him.

"A-Anyway." Raigh decided to change the subject, because apparently this one is bad for his heart. "I'll go talk with the village elder for you. I know they wouldn't let you go that easily."

"Please...don't worry about that...I will convince the elder and the others..." She assured him. Right now, she didn't want him to be worried about tomorrow's problem. She wanted to cherish this moment with him.

At that moment, Raigh realized that her hand is still connected with his.

"Can we let go of that?" His eyes motioned to their still-locking hands.

Sophia's cheeks also produced a faint shade of red as she shook her head. "Please...Let's stay like this for a moment." She said as she sat on the grassy soil and Raigh followed her. "Let's...enjoy this moment...this beautiful scenery..." Sophia said as she tightened her grip on Raigh's hand.

"Hmph, Fine." He said. Deep blush still haven't gone away from his face. "Just...don't think that I like it or anything..." He looked away, thinking that the scenery will be a good distraction from her smiling face.

"I hope no one is looking at us..." Raigh muttered to himself.

"Raigh..."

"What is it?"

She looked on his face with a smile. Her lilac eyes met with his emerald one.

"Thank You..."

Raigh turned away from her as he put on a smile for a mere second, which Sophia noticed.

"Same here...Sophia..."

And they sat there for a while, enjoying the majestic scenery of the Kingdom of Bern, with both hands and hearts still connected to each other.

They finally found the place to call home.

 **FIN.**

* * *

 **Extra Scene**

"Damn. That was one heck of a drama!" A boyish voice not far from Raigh and Sophia's sitting spot was heard. It came from one of the two boys that hid behind a bush.

"I'm so happy...that my little brother(*) could finally have his own happiness!" Lugh said a bit loudly as he wiped off tears of joy from his eyes.

The other boy, Chad, quickly covered his mouth, shushing him. "Shhh! They'll hear you!"

"But I couldn't believe that cold jerk Raigh could be that gentle to a girl. He must've really fallen head over heels for her. It was worth tailing those two secretly. I can use it to blackmail him." Chad said quietly as he put on a mischievous smirk.

"Come on, Chad, that is mean. We're not going to tell anyone! Not even Raigh!"

Chad eyed Lugh skeptically. "You're the one that ended up telling the camp whenever they did something like this." He remarked.

Yes, it was thanks to Lugh that the camp was full of unwanted gossip of their relationship. It was common to hear 'romantic rumors' here and there at the camp, but Lugh was always the one guilty on spreading the rumor in his naïve, cheerful attitude that led the dwellers of the camp to thought that they will eventually end up together.

It was because of pure luck that Raigh and Sophia are not into rumors. Otherwise, they would've known that their relationship is pretty much a 'common knowledge' to everyone.

"But I learned from my mistake! I will not do it again! Promise!" Lugh protested back.

And the day after that, everyone knew Raigh was having a moment with Sophia near the cliff.

* * *

 **A/N :**

 **(*) : In the Japanese version, Raigh called Lugh 'aniki', which means big brother.**

 **Phew! I'm done with this fluff. I tried my best to potray the characters to be as consistent as possible. I felt a bit difficult to make Raigh's consistent though, since he is a tsundere, I suppose I played on his 'tsun' and 'dere' side a bit so I could give more character to him.**

 **And torturing tsunderes is fun. Fufufufufu.**

 **Ah yes, the extra scene is just for the light humor. So I might have crossed the line of 'common sense' in that one.**

 **Anyway, Rate and Reviews are always welcome.**

 **And be sure to ship Raigh x Sophia.**

 **EDIT : I FIXED THE GRAMMAR AND SOME STRUCTURE TO THE STORY, BUT THE STORY IS STILL THE SAME. THANKS TO THE REVIEWER 'G' FOR POINTING OUT MY GRAMMAR MISTAKES.**


	2. Alone

**Lilac and Emerald**

 **Some background points for the story :**

 **1\. The story happened at the time of Ilia/Sacae split. This story happened in Etruria/Sacae border**

 **2\. Nino/Jaffar is implied in this story**

 **3\. Lucius is implied to be the father of the orphanage.**

* * *

 **Alone**

 **Rating : K+**

 **Genre : Friendship/Angst**

 **Pairings ; Raigh x Sophia.**

 **Word Count : 2100+**

* * *

Raigh stared at the little trinket on his palm. His usual confident and arrogant face was all but gone from him, replaced instead by expression that is somehow melancholic. The small item he held is just a simple, copper-coated circle-shaped pendant. In the center of the pendant, there is a certain symbol. Raigh deduced that the symbol may be the seal of his family. It was a keepsake he got from his mother.

That item was the only thing that was left of his old life when their parents were still around. Father Lucius told them that they had died before he picked them up as orphans. But he knew that the father was lying, probably for a good reason, either because he thought they were too young to tell or maybe he didn't want both Lugh and him to look after them.

Despite his hazy memory of the first three years of his life, Raigh remembered clearly that before his father vanished, he saw blood. He knew that his father was the one to draw it. And he remembered that his mother took him to this place, carrying both him and Lugh and said a tearful goodbye at the night before she left. He didn't know what happened, but he figured that his parents may have involved in some kind of trouble and left, maybe to protect them.

After that incident, he sort of closed other people off from him. As long as he could remember, he was always a loner after that incident. He never talked much to others, even with his twin brother, Lugh. He noticed back then that even Father Lucius is very concerned about his well-being. Rather than playing or talking with the others, he always immersed himself in books, magic lores, and dark magic tomes. It was at that time he started developing his current personality, cold, cynical, rude, brash, you name it.

Why?

Even he's not sure why. Was it because he thought that depending on others is meaningless? Was it because he regretted that he didn't have the power to save his parents? Or was it because he didn't want to burden everyone with his problems? Or maybe he was too exposed to the darkness of this world that he thought he had to be like that to survive?

He thought the reason may be the combination of those factors. But he knew one thing for sure.

He was alone. He was always alone. He knew that he didn't want to rely on others to solve his problem. He thought the only one that he could trust is himself. You can't rely on others. That was his thought.

Yet, somewhere deep inside his heart, he felt...sad, empty. As if there is a gaping hole in his heart. Why? Did he actually crave for someone, a kindred spirit who could understand his pain to share the labor and tribulations with him? Did he want to go back where he could be honest to himself, like when their parents were around?

Raigh sighed and clutched the pendant in his hand. Why did he thought of all this? This isn't like himself. Maybe deep down inside his heart was longing to be freed. Free from his sadness, free from his emptiness.

He denied it. _**No**_. He thought. He had to be strong. He cannot show weakness in front of others. If he wanted power, he had to be strong. Gaining powers...is all that matters. You couldn't protect anything without power. His parents leaving them and the orphanage destroyed is a proof of that.

That is his goal, and he will achieve it alone. He wouldn't trust others to do it for him.

Raigh sat there for a while, lost in his thought, when suddenly a gentle voice called him from behind.

"Raigh..."

Raigh jolted in shock, snapping him from his deep thought as he looked behind him in an instant. What he saw was the same as who he expected to be. Only **she** had that kind of dragging voice.

"...It's you again." Raigh sighed at the long lilac-haired girl that appeared suddenly behind him. He's used to it though. She had this habit of appearing and disappearing suddenly. He knew that this girl is a bit different from the others. He was not the epitome of 'normality' himself, so he learnt not to be bothered with her unusual traits.

"Good afternoon, Raigh..." The girl, Sophia greeted him politely. Despite her politeness being a recurring theme whenever she met him, Raigh never got used to it. He's not used to be...patronized like that.

"Whatever." He replied coldly as he turned his gaze to the ground. He couldn't think freely if she's around. "What are you doing here by yourself?" He asked her. "You know it's dangerous for a slow person like you to go by yourself this far to the camp. I already told you countless times about that, right?" He reprimanded. Usually, when she went out the camp, Raigh 'volunteered' to come with her. He'd never admitted it, but Sophia knew that it's the way he shows his caring side to her.

Sophia didn't answer him back. Instead she sat next to him below the huge tree where he sat. Raigh sighed and returned to drown himself in his thoughts. Neither of them were speaking a word. It was quite an awkward silence, for Raigh at least.

"...Raigh..." Sophia decided to broke their silence. "Are you...thinking about something...?" She said as she turned his head to face the Druid boy next to her. Raigh twitched for a split second. He forgot that she is a perceptive one, especially to these kinds of things. And to be honest, he didn't like that about her.

"...It's nothing important." He replied.

"You said it's not important...but I could feel...a deep sadness...inside your heart..." She said to him.

Of course she's going to say nonsensical things like that, Raigh thought.

"I said it's nothing important!" Raigh raised his voice. "Look, if you want to bother someone with your fortune-telling crap, don't pick me! Whatever I think now is...not of concern to you. It's my own problem. Got that?" He snapped at her as he leaned back to the tree trunk.

"Just...leave me alone. It's my own problem, you wouldn't understand." He pushed her back as he returned his gaze back to the ground.

Sophia was silent for a while before she finally opened her mouth.

"But I understand what you 're feeling...I too...have experienced the same thing as you...The sadness of losing the loved one...The emptiness...like you feel right now..." She said as she casted her head down, looking at the grassy soil.

"...I knew...what it feels like...to lose someone close to you...much more than you do...My parents...they passed away a long time ago...I didn't even knew my mother, my father said...she died when she gave birth to me...And my father died when I was small...i understand...how Raigh felt...how the emptiness sometimes overwhelms you...i knew..." Sophia explained. A faint, melancholic tone could be heard from her voice.

"..." Raigh didn't answer her, his head still casted down, looking at the ground. He always hated it when she read her mind. And what is worst, she was right when she said that she knew him better than he does.

"You tried to shoulder it alone...but in my village, there is a saying : 'A kindred spirit will lift your spirits." I wanted...Raigh to share it with me...so we could...carry our weights in our heart...together."

Raigh turned to eye her skeptically before he scoffed. "You're really a naïve idiot, you know that? It's just like Lugh suddenly becomes two." He referenced his brother. "I understand if it's my brother, but why do you insist on helping me? It's not like we are friends or something. We just happened to get stuck together so often. That's all."

He hated to admit it, but despite being irritated by her behavior, at the same time, he was always being...drawn to her for some reason. He didn't know why. Was it because she was right all along, that she understood him more than himself? But she is still an 'outsider' to him. He felt that he shouldn't trouble her with his problems.

"Because...Raigh is kind...to me...I wanted to Raigh...to be happy." She said gently, but a firm tone was clear in her voice.

Raigh sighed. "You make it sound weird by putting on that way." He paused. Pondering whether he should tell her or not.

In the end he finally relented. She wouldn't leave him alone if he refused, he thought,

He opened his hand to reveal his memory-pendant to her.

"This is my parents' keepsake. It's the only thing that's left of them."

"Could you tell...what happened to them...?" She asked cautiously, not wanting to be too overbearing to him.

"They didn't pass away or anything, mind you. At least not when I last saw them. They just...left. Father in my orphanage said that they died. He lied to me and Lugh, probably to prevent us for running off to search for them." Raigh hesitated for a moment before continuing. "I never told anyone but I think my parents had a dark past..."

"Dark...past...?"

"Maybe they were mercenaries or assassins. The last thing I saw before my father vanished is...blood, and I remembered the sword he used...i think it's similar to Killing Edge. My mother vanished about a week later, after leaving me and my brother to the orphanage, probably looking for my father."

"So...that means..."

"They probably left us to protect us. If they have a dark past, maybe they made some enemies. Probably from Bern or Etruria, those countries have nobles that assassinated from time to time." He explained. "That is when I started to learn dark magic to gain power. You couldn't protect anything if you don't have power. That's why my parents left."

"Is...that...why are you so sad?"

"I'm not sad." He denied as he looked away from her." It's just some thought I had from time to time...so I could remember my purpose in this life." He clutched the pendant again. "Relationship, bonds...they're nothing if you don't have power. Just look at the orphanage...you could pretend to be happy living there, and it got destroyed in a blink because you don't have power to defend it."

Raigh put back the pendant in his mantle before turning to face Sophia again.

"There I told you. Are you happy now?" Raigh quipped sarcastically.

She smiled a little. "Yes...your heart is...somewhat lighter than before...I'm glad if I could just...help lessen your burden...even If it's just a little."

Raigh snorted. "You're naïve, you know that? You're not going to last a minute outside this army like that. What kind of idiot asked what on people's mind out of the blue like that?" He said coldly.

With that, he stood up from the spot he sat and walked a bit away from the tree shade, staring into the endless meadows before him.

"Look, I'm...not kind like you said. I may be once, but things happened. You shouldn't be so...trusting to everyone you barely know."

His voice was cold and cynical. Yet Sophia knew that every time he 'reprimanded' her like this, it's just his way of showing concern to her. She always felt a warmth...emanating from him. This is why she was never offended by his behavior. She knew he was gentle and soft on the inside. He may put a façade of being strong, but when he shared his thought with Sophia, the burden on his heart seemed to...lighten for a little, for the first time in his life.

"Now come on. Let's go back to the camp." He motioned her to stand up.

Sophia looked up to his emerald gaze. "Raigh...?"

"Look, don't misunderstand, okay? I did this because I still owed you that spell book you gave me. Not that I care about you or anything, if you got lost, then it's on me. "He said as he turned his face away from her.

Sophia smiled as she got up and started to walk with him back to the camp. It's normal for him to hide his true feelings, but at that time, she could feel his coldness that went together with his concern somehow more dissipated than usual. She knew that after sharing that thought, he had been more open to her.

He had told himself that he was alone and would always be alone. He thought that he would always shoulder that burden in his heart by himself.

He couldn't be more wrong.

FIN

* * *

 **A/N**

 **Thank you for reading the story.**

 **In this story, I made Raigh and Sophia's relationship to be in earlier stage, hence why Raigh is still somehow 'distant' to Sophia. This story meant to emphasize Raigh's character development in connecting with someone.**

 **Also, yes, I don't make Raigh share his burden with Lugh. I do not think that Raigh is that kind of person that easily opens up to others, and Lugh is too positive to be a 'sharing partner' for him. I figured Lugh would only say 'it's better to look at the positives' and in my opinion, that kind of personality wouldn't mix well with a loner and introverted person like Raigh.**

 **Hence why I make Sophia, who shared the past and has more similar outlook with Raigh to be the one who will open Raigh's heart.**

 **Anyway, thanks again for watching, and i would really appreciate your Reviews. You could review anything, troupe, grammar mistakes (I'm not a native), story, and/or character portrayal.**

 **And be sure to ship Raigh x Sophia. This fandom needs more of them. ;)**


	3. Language of Flowers

**Lilac and Emerald**

Disclaimer : I do not own Fire Emblem.

Cover image belongs to Serina_Ranshi

 **A/N**

 **Some points to consider :**

 **1\. Background of this story is the Sacae Route in Bulgar**

 **2\. Raigh and Sophia are already 'close' at this moment of the game. The story assumes that they had already recognize their fondness towards each other, hence the amount of Romance in this fanfic**

 **3\. I make Fae calls Sophia and Raigh 'big sister' and 'big brother'. It's like 'onee-chan' or 'onii-chan' in Japanese. I don't know why, but I think Fae's personality REALLY match those kind of honorifics.**

 **This is quite a long fic. Enjoy the read!**

* * *

 **Language of Flowers**

 **Rating : K+**

 **Genre : Romance, with some Humor in the End.**

 **Pairings ; Raigh x Sophia.**

 **Word Count : 3700+**

* * *

It has been two years and three months since the start of 'The Great Movement of Bern'. That was the name of the war that Bern started by invading the homeland of the plain tribes – Sacae. On this day, the iron grip that the mightiest nation in Elibe inflicted to the nomad tribes has been undid by the Etrurian Army, led by General Roy of Pherae.

The occupation of Bern ended with the defeat of the treacherous Djute clan led by Monke, the Bern forces led by the swordmaster, Gel, the lieutenant of Bernish General Brunya, and the traitorous advisor that guards the city of Bulgar, Roartz. Roy also managed to retrieve the Divine Bow, Miugre from the surviving Djute clansmen.

Now the Etrurian army had finished the occupation of Sacae. What Roy did at the first time they conquered Bulgar is to ease Bern's rather restrictive law in the city to show the nomads and the citizens their goodwill as they intended : to liberate, not to conquer. The decision was also necessary for the army, because they planned to use the city as a 'base' to attack Bern, which means 'foreign' troops will enter the city. The last thing they need is some troublemaker convincing the nomads that Etrurians are just the same as Bern.

Thanks to the less restrictive law, Bulgar regains her previous glory as the largest trading city in all of Sacae as local and foreign merchants are flocking back to the city, something that they couldn't do as freely in Bern's regime. Naturally, this also revived the multiculturalism of the city, which is shown by people selling items unique to each of their regions. Bulgar is starting to become the lively city like it has always been.

Since the invasion of Bern will take a month or two to prepare, the members of the army are given some time to relieve their stress from the war. All of the members of the army have already explored the city. One of them is the Nabatan Prophetess, Sophia.

* * *

Sophia walks through the bustling city, looking at the people walking and running about, hearing people talking, mostly about monetary negotiation between a buyer and a merchant, and of course, seeing the unique items (in her words) that are being sold. Sophia thinks that this city is so different than where she came from. The bustling streets, the lively atmosphere, the people of all kinds interacting with each other, somehow she feels...happy maybe? She never knows the outside world and she is raised to shun outsiders such as those people.

But in here, she thinks that maybe the outside world is not so bad after all. There are bad people, sure, like those who kidnapped her, but there is also good ones, like Roy and the others. And those people with different kind of homelands talking to each other make her feel somehow refreshed. If they could interact like that despite their differences, maybe there is a way for all beings, humans or dragons, to live in harmony once more in the open, not in isolated village like Arcadia.

She smiles a little and walks around some more until she sees a certain shop, which she knows from the merchandise sold is a flower shop. She stops for a moment before entering the shop. She always has this fondness for flowers, and she wants to know what kind of flowers she could see in the outside world.

Sophia enters the shop to see the beauty of the flowers. She never knows any of those flowers. The only flowers she ever seen are only those that grow in the desert. But all those flowers she is seeing now is different, all of them in a good way. She walks through the store until one kind of flower captivates her attention.

"It is...beautiful..." She says softly as she locks her sight on the said flower, admiring the shape and colors of it.

The flower has a yellow color for its petals and a darker yellow color in the center. Sophia senses somehow the flower has the impression of youthfulness to it. Sophia stands to admire the beauty of the flower for a long moment. She never knows that such beautiful flowers existed in the outside world.

"May I help you, miss?" A womanly voice calls her. She turns around to see a middle-aged woman with an apron. Sophia realizes that she's probably the owner of the shop.

"Ah...i'm sorry...i was just...looking at the flowers, ma'am..." She bows her head.

"Ah, no, it's quite alright. I see you were fascinated by this Primrose. It only grows in the Lycian and Etrurian territories. "The middle aged woman, who is also the florist, explains to her.

"Prim...rose?" She never heard that kind of flowers before.

"Yes. Primrose is a flower that young people usually use to propose or show love to their other half. It symbolizes eternal love, you usually give this to the people you can't live without." The florist explains.

"Ah...i see..." She shyly replies.

"Ah, a shy one, I see." The florist giggled. "It appears you are not from these parts, but usually, it's men who buys this flowers. But if you're interested, you're welcome to buy it."

"I'm very sorry...but I don't have money with me at the moment...Thank you very much for your help." She bows her head at the florist. The florist returns her politeness with a kind smile.

"That's too bad. Well, feel free to look at the flowers as long as you want."

Sophia bows her head again in gratitude. She continues to admire the Primrose flower until suddenly a cheerful sound is heard inside the shop.

"Ah! Big sister Sophia!"

The little dragon girl, Fae, calls her name as she dashes to where she stands.

"Fae...what are you doing here? Are you...exploring the city by yourself?" She says worriedly, tugging the child's arm. She knows that nobody would expect Fae is a Dragon, but still, if she got lost, it will spell trouble.

"Nope!" Fae went with Igrene! She's outside the shop right now. "

"What are you doing, big sister Sophia?" The dragon girl's face brims with curiosity.

"I'm just...looking at this flower...it's so beautiful...is it not?" Sophia smiles a little, looking at the Primrose flower.

"Yes! Fae thinks it's beautiful! It's not like the flowers Fae used to pick in Arcadia." Fae nods in confirmation. "Big sister Sophia likes this flower?" Again, the dragon girl's curiosity brims throughout her face.

"...Yes. "

"Then let's ask Igrene to buy it!"

Sophia shakes her head. "No, Fae...We shouldn't waste our money...to buy something we don't really need...We might need it for later"

"But you wanted it, don't you?"

"Yes...but it's better to conserve your money for the future...Fae...Now...let's go...Igrene will be worried if you're here for too long." She says to the confused young dragon girl as she ushered her to the exit.

"Thank you so much for your kindness, Mrs. Florist" Sophia bows her head for the last time before she exits the store while holding the dragon girl hand.

"Ah, yes! Come again!" The florist replies as she watches the two girls exit the store.

"What a strange girl...i wonder where they're from..."

* * *

 ** _Later that day..._**

Raigh is walking across the crowded streets of Bulgar. His eyes scanned the goods sold at the streets by many kinds of merchants. From what he knows across his travels, 'flea markets' like this are like a double-edged sword. A merchant might charge ludicrous items to unsuspecting buyers or a stupid one might sell a valuable for a low price. It's not impossible to get a good item in there.

Raigh scanned the valuables to see if there is a magic item or tomes in the pile, with no luck. All of the items in the market are just imitations of artefacts and jewelry. It's understandable because Bern's rule had chased out many old-time traders, and those coming in are mostly war-torn merchants that try to make a quick money.

Raigh sighs as he continues to walk. Maybe he could find some worthwhile items at the local shop. At least Bern gave permission for them to continue their business.

On the way, unfortunately, he meets a certain setback.

"AH! Big brother Raigh!" A loud voice calls his name. Raigh sighs—again, noticing that kind of voice only belongs to a certain person he didn't want to meet. He turned to see a young girl running towards him with the tan-skinned woman behind her raised her hand to call her back.

He's feeling that he couldn't possibly get away from her. "What do you want...?"

"Hey! Hey! Fae's got something to show big brother Raigh! Come on! Come with Fae!" She says loudly as she tugs his hand, forcing him to a flower shop that he didn't recognize was very close to them.

The door to the shop opens with a loud voice as Fae drags Raigh to the set of flowers that Sophia was looking at before - the Primrose.

"Where are you taking me?" Raigh says annoyedly, resisting every single urge to punch the child's head for wasting his time.

"This flower! Isn't it beautiful? Fae saw big sister Sophia looked at this flower and she told Fae it's very beautiful!" The sparks of innocence and happiness from the dragon girl's reddish eyes just made his mood worsen. So this is the reason why she drags him to this store? Wasting his time with silly flowers?

"This stupid brat..." Raigh fumes before he glares at the dragon kid. "Damn it! Is this the reason why you drag me across the street? Showing me a bunch of ugly flowers? Look, I'm busy. I don't have time to play with a brat like you!" He angrily tells the dragon girl off.

"Muu—Fine!" Fae pouts before sticking her tongue out. "Big brother Raigh is mean! I'll never speak to big brother Raigh ever again!" The dragon girl rants as she stomps her way out of the shop.

"Damn brat." Raigh mutters in annoyance.

Raigh is about to leave when Fae's words rang inside his mind once more. It seems there's some of them that stuck on his mind despite his anger.

He looks back to the flower set she showed him.

"So...she likes those flowers, huh? There must not be many flowers growing at that kind of place she's from..."

* * *

 ** _Knock Knock_**

The knock from the door gains Sophia's attention. She stares at the door for a short moment, wondering who it could possibly be. If it's Fae or Igrene, they shouldn't have knocked because they share this room with her...

 ** _Knock Knock_**

The knock grows louder as if to emphasize the impatience of the visitor. She quickly stands, putting on her mantle and walks to the door to greet her visitor. She thinks that maybe it's important and related to the army's business.

What she sees when she opens the door is the green-haired druid that she knows well.

"Ah...Raigh..." She smiles a little after recognizing it's him. It is very unusual for him to come to her room, or tent, or whatever structure she stayed in. For her, this is a rather...pleasant surprise. "Good evening, Raigh..." she greets him politely like she always does.

"Yeah." He replies uncomfortably. It is then when she notices that Raigh's left hand is behind his back.

"What...brings you here?" She asks, noticing the uneasiness and somewhat bashful expression from the young druid, which is a rare emotion for him. Sophia feels like Raigh is somehow...hiding something from her. Does it have anything to do with his left arm?

"Look, don't get this the wrong way or anything, but...here." Raigh reveals his previously hidden left arm to reveal a bouquet of flowers, but not just any flowers. It is the Primrose flower that she previously saw in the city. The one that she thought was beautiful.

Sophia's heart skips a beat as she takes the bouquet from him hesitantly. Did he—Did Raigh just give her these flowers?

"Raigh, did...did you bought this flowers...in the city...for me?" She stutters in disbelief and confusion. She knew that Raigh is a kind-hearted man, but for him to be honest like this is extremely unusual and this is the flowers she likes that he bought! If she knows better, this could be the sign of the coming Apocalypse!

Of course, Raigh denies it. "D-don't be ridiculous! There's no way I'd buy you a flower! That Fae brat said that you liked this flower, so I ended up buying it!" Raigh explains lamely as his cheeks grow hot by the seconds passed.

"Ah...so that's why..." Sophia replies awkwardly in embarrassment of her misunderstanding. So Fae nagged him to buy it for her. She could sense that in this time, Raigh is telling the truth. He usually tries to 'lie' whenever he acted nice to her, but strangely enough, this time he seems to be telling the truth.

Suddenly a twinge of disappointment invades her mind. Is she—is she disappointed because he gave her that flower just because of Fae? Does she want Raigh himself to give her those flowers?

She mentally shakes her head. No, it's not right to think like that.

"...Um...Raigh, how much...this flowers cost...i mean If Fae asked you to buy it..." She reaches her pockets on mantle for some money.

"No. I won't accept your money. Think this as repayment for that last magic tome you gave me." He responds rather smugly.

"But...i gave that tome...as a gift...because you always protected me in the battle..."

"I said no! I insist that as a repayment and you'll have to accept it! I already told you I'm not a beggar, haven't i?" He cut her off, his tone forceful as if to cancel any negotiations from her side.

Sophia shifted uncomfortably, somehow this talk is becoming more awkward for both of them. Knowing Raigh's attitude towards things like this, she decides to play the pacifist and let him have his own way.

"Alright...Thank you...Raigh." She manages a smile despite the awkwardness between them.

Raigh turned his face away. "It's nothing..." With that, he leaves without saying anything more.

* * *

"I'm back!" A cheerful childish voice is heard from the opened door.

"Fae?" Sophia immediately stops her reading and walks towards the dragon girl to reprimand her for asking Raigh to buy those flowers for her. Even though Raigh ended up insisting to pay for it, it is still not right to ask him to buy stuffs for her. Even though she knows that Fae is probably just trying to make her happy.

"Big sister Sophia! Fae is very happy today! She gets to see the outside world! The outside world is fun!" The dragon girl puts on an innocent, happy face as she tells the Nabatan Prophet her 'adventures' in the city with Igraine. Sophia had gone back to her room not too long after she finds her in that flower shop, but Fae insists of exploring the city more.

"Fae." Sophia stops her mid-story, her voice firm. If this keeps up, Sophia knows she'll talk until she gets tired and sleeps. She has to tell her this now. "I am going to ask you something... please answer honestly, okay?"

Hearing Sophia's firm tone, the dragon girl's smile fades. She knows that kind of tone is only used when she behaves badly.

"Did you ask Raigh to...buy these flowers for me?" She asks as she shows her the Primrose flower bouquet Raigh gave her a while ago.

"Eh? Did big brother Raigh give that flower to you? Fae didn't ask him to buy it! Fae just said that Sophia likes that flower and Fae wondered if he would like it too, but he was so mean and said that he didn't care about 'ugly flowers' and called Fae a stupid kid!" She pouts as she explains her previous encounter with Raigh that didn't end very well.

Sophia senses that Fae is telling the truth. So then, why did Raigh bought that flower for her? He said it was because of Fae calling that flower pretty...

But then she realizes that he never said anything about Fae asking him to buy those flowers. Was he just telling her a half-truth? Considering his attitude towards her, that's very possible.

So does that mean...Raigh gave those flowers by himself for her?

Sophia immediately blushes at the newfound revelation. Looking at the bouquet of Primrose, she recalls a recent memory. What did that florist said about this flower's symbolical meaning?

" _Primrose is a flower that young people usually use to propose or show love to their other half. It symbolizes eternal love, you usually give this to the people you can't live without."_

Her blush deepens wildly. At the same time, her heartbeat also accelerates dramatically.

" _No, it couldn't be.._. _He probably doesn't even aware of it..."_ She reasons to herself as she holds her chest tightly, trying to calm down her irregular heartbeat.

" _But still... Raigh gives it to me..."_ She smiles widely as looked back at the bouquet of flowers she's holding, a strong feeling flow through every inch of her body. It's a gift from him. It doesn't matter if he doesn't know the meaning of that flower. It's from him and she will cherish it. That's what she thinks.

She decides that tomorrow she will buy a pot or vase in the city.

* * *

"Raigh! Raigh! He—y, Raigh! "

 _Crap._ Raigh curses in his mind. That happy and loud sound can only be coming from...

There's no escape when he started to call him loudly like that. "...What do you want, Lugh?" Raigh turns to see his running twin brother with his usual cheerful face. And what his gut have been telling him for all this time is, there's never good thing for him coming when Lugh calls him with happy tone like that.

"I saw you in the city today!" Lugh's eyes beamed with excitement.

"Well, congratulations for you." Raigh replies sarcastically. So that's what only he wants to say after those screams? This kind of things is why Raigh wondered sometimes why they are even related, let alone twins.

"No! I'm not finished! I saw you walked with a flower bouquet! Are you giving flowers for someone?" Lugh asks his twin. The brightness on his face seems to grow with the question, seemingly knowing the implications behind his twin's actions.

See? No good things ever come.

Lugh has a good idea, however, for whom the flower is for. He smiled mischievously at his twin. "Is it for Sophi—"

"No way!" Raigh is triggered by the mention of her name and his face reddens with incredibly short interval. "There's no way I am buying that girl a flower!" Raigh denies frantically, though Lugh seems not buying it at that moment.

Lugh raises his eyebrow, looking at his twin skeptically. "...Then why do you bought those flowers? I don't see it with you right now..."

"I didn't buy those flowers for her! That Fae kid told me that Sophia likes that flower, so I ended up buying it! If not, she'll be hovering around me at that flower shop!" He frantically explains.

"Ah, so Fae asked you to buy it for Sophia, then?" Lugh clarifies, though a hint of disappointment can be heard from his voice, which his twin didn't catch on.

He turns his face away. "W-Well, yeah. That's sort of it."

"Oh, I see. Well, it's still nice of you to do that, Raigh." Lugh smiles, ever the optimist.

Raigh is relieved that Lugh seemed to believe him. He turns back to the magic tome he was reading, but Lugh interrupts him again.

"Hey, that flower you bought, it was Primrose, right?"

"Huh?" Raigh winced. He was never the one that care about flowers and such. He didn't even know the flower's name when he bought it.

"Well, this is just what I heard among the florist back in Araphen. That flower symbolizes Eternal Love. It carries a message 'I can't live without you' to the person you give that flower to. Well, it'll be romantic if you gave it to Sophia...But well, a brother can only hope, can't it?" Lugh smiles knowingly at his twin.

Suddenly, Raigh's body feels as if he has been petrified.

So that...was the message of that flower? Did he just give a flower with an expression of undying love to her?

Suddenly, he can feel all parts of his faces heating up.

" _No, she wouldn't know. Besides, I didn't know the meaning anyway ."_ Raigh mentally reasons with himself, though it's still not enough to fight the deep blush that creeps on his cheeks due to embarrassment because of the fact that he was the one that actually decide to bought that flower for her.

But despite all that, at the same time, his heart feels suddenly...light. As if a heavy burden in his mind has been relieved by the fact he gave that flower to her. Like maybe, speaking words that have been hidden in his heart, perhaps?

" _Damn. Why am i feeling like this? I don't understand...and I feel like I'm not myself..."_ Raigh thinks loudly in his mind. Why? Why did he suddenly feel like giving that flower to her is like the normal thing to do? And that's after Lugh telling him the real meaning of that flower!

" _Am I...glad that I gave her a flower with that kind of hidden message...?"_ He thinks loudly to himself again, pondering what could his newfound feeling possibly be.

" _Could it- No. It couldn't be."_ Raigh denies as he chases the thought away.

"Raigh?"

His brother's voice finally snaps him out of his trance. He wordlessly carries his tome, stands up from his chair, and walks towards the exit of the room in the castle he shares with Lugh, Chad, and Hugh.

"...I'm going for a walk." He tells his brother before he exits the room, suddenly thinking that he might need some time to be alone.

"Hey, wai—he's gone." Lugh was left alone in his room, wondering about what his twin could have been thinking.

* * *

 **FIN.**

 **A/N :**

 **Finally, I uploaded this fic. This one has been in my mind for quite a long time, but because of the length of the story, I wasn't sure to upload it or not. I decided in the end, because this one I considered one of my best ideas for Raigh x Sophia fic.**

 **Anyway, I hope I didn't bore you with the story. I intended the story to be long because I built Raigh and Sophia's romance to be indirect, hence it left many plotholes that I had to wrote in the story. Also, Raigh's intention of buying those flowers in this fic is firstly half-platonic, half-romantic. He just wanted to be 'nice' to her, but as you can see, in the end, he fully switches it to be romantic.**

 **R &R are always welcome. You could comment on my grammar if there's a mistake, like usual. I'm not a native and I want to improve my writing skills. **

**And be sure to ship Raigh and Sophia. This fandom needs more of it.**


	4. The Oath to Protect

**Lilac and Emerald**

Disclaimer : I do not own Fire Emblem.

Cover Image : Credit to Serina_Ranshi (I almost forgot!)

 **A/N**

 **Some points to consider :**

 **1\. Background of this story is before the march towards Shrine of Seals (CH 21 in the game)**

 **2\. Raigh and Sophia are already close at this moment of the game. If this game have an 'S' Support, that is probably a background for it.**

 **This is another long fic. Enjoy the read!**

* * *

 **The Oath to Protect**

 **Rating : K+**

 **Genre : Romance/Friendship/Fantasy**

 **Pairings ; Raigh x Sophia.**

 **Word Count : 3700+**

* * *

"Flames of Nothingness! Engulf my adversary with your merciless embrace! Fenrir!" A shout was heard from the green-haired druid.

Suddenly, the attacking Wyvern Lord was stopped by some unknown forces as a number of purple-colored flames surrounded the Bern warrior. The flames then charged through the warrior's body, followed by a scream as his body instantly turned into ash, leaving no trace of his existence in the world.

The green-haired Druid that casted the spell fell into the ground, clutching his wounded side. It was a hard battle fought between the Etrurian-Lycian Alliance and Bern's military. The Bern military had successfully initiated a surprise attack on the marching army with their Dragons and elite warriors, leaving no time for the Etrurian-Lycian army to organize for fighting back.

As a result, the army was scattered and many was forced to fight in a small team or worst, by themselves. Raigh was one of those that forced to fight alone. What the young druid didn't understand was how strong the Bern is. He had fought their forces in the Isles, Etruria, and Ilia, of course, but none of them could compare to what he's facing now. It was true what the rumors said, the warriors of the mainland of Bern couldn't be compared to what they all had fought before.

"Damn...this doesn't look so good." Raigh cursed as he looked on the state of his wound. It was a fairly serious wound. Getting shot by those snipers is really not good. And he didn't bring any vulneraries or Elixirs with him.

How could he be this stupid?

"Heh..." He smirked, looking at another team of Bern Wyvern Lords flying towards him. "This could be it, I guess. But I won't give up. Not to this Bern losers. Not after what they did to Father Lucius." He muttered under his shaky breath as he prepared his another Fenrir spell.

Raigh concentrated through the shrill shriek of Wyvern charging at him. If he could concentrate enough, he could cast a spell that would finish all of them at once.

A circle of ancient runes with square shape drawing suddenly appears and flashed at the ground.

"Great Flames of Nothingness, drown my adversaries in your presence! Fenrir!"

As Raigh finished his incantations, four of his adversaries were suddenly paralyzed and surrounded by many purplish flames. The flames, like before charged through their bodies, turning both the riders and their Wyverns into ashes.

Seeing his enemies had been eliminated, Raigh took a time to catch his short breath. Using that kind of power seemed to drain his stamina significantly. He fell to his knees, clutching his wound as he coughed a small amount of blood to the ground. Suddenly he felt intense pressure to his body. It was because he used too much power at that attack. His weakened body couldn't take it very well.

"Ugh!" Raigh winced as he clutched his wound again, which seemed had gone worse, evidenced by the large amount of blood flowing from it. His vision was also blurred. He was losing a large amount of blood.

Suddenly a shriek was heard from behind him. There was still one alive. This one apparently encircled him to ambush him from behind. Raigh looked to see a Wyvern Lord charging with a silver-coated spear behind him. He was already close to Raigh's location.

He didn't have the time to prepare himself.

Seeing his impending fate, Raigh smiled. He couldn't retaliate. Even though there was time, he certainly couldn't do it in the state of he was in. He couldn't even move due to the pain that seemed to invade every fiber of his body.

"...Heh. The world is only full of fools." He remarked cynically with a smug but accepting smirk. At least if he's died...there would be no more pain, no more hurt, no more losing something important to him anymore. He'd be free from the tribulations of this world.

But he admitted that he might have one regret. He wouldn't be able to see her again. But at least, she was safe and he kept his promise to her.

"Sophia..." Raigh uttered a name as he prepared for a split second of pain that will be followed by eternal darkness...One last thought of the lilac-haired druid...

But fate ultimately decided it was not his time yet.

"Ancient powers that manipulate the nature of magic...stop the breath of my adversary...Luna!"

With that chant, many spheres of darkness surrounded the Wyvern Lord before striking the warrior and the beast, engulfing them in the darkness and stopping them on their tracks. As the darkness subsided, the rider and the beast's life had all but gone from their body, leaving both of their lifeless flesh fell on the cold battleground. At that same time, the caster, who Raigh immediately recognized as the girl he had called before emerged from the woods, walking in a fast pace towards him.

"Sophia...?" Raigh muttered her name in confusion of her presence, as if he thought he had seen a ghost. "Why are you...?"

As soon as she arrived at Raigh's spot, she pulled out her heal staff, looking at the young Druid's wound.

"Raigh...please hold still...your wound is deep. Let me...heal you for a moment." Her voice was gentle but firm in tone. But the other Druid seemed more of outraged than grateful for her kindness towards him.

"Don't hold still me! Grk-!" He shouted in outrage before he winced at the sudden pain it caused. "You...idiot..." He said between his gasping breaths. "You...absolute idiot...I told you to escape and regroup with Roy and the others as I hold the enemies, right? That was our plan!"

Sophia ignored his rant as she began channeling her powers through the healing staff, closing his deep wound slowly. She bit her lip looking at Raigh condition. She couldn't bear looking at people that was hurt, let alone...him that was hurt this bad.

"I...came back because...i thought Raigh may be alone...That is why I came back..." She explained as she continued to heal his wound, pouring every last of her power to it.

"That's not a reason to come back, Sophia!" His voice rang throughout the battlefield. Different from his usual pretense of uncaringness, this one had a clear tone of deep concern behind it. "I promised I'd protect you...if anything happens to you...This is not a place for you to be, alright?" Raigh grasped the grass at the ground hard as his emerald gaze locked firmly on her lilac one. He never admitted it outright, but she had become one of the persons that are important to him. He didn't want to lose anyone ever again.

"But...i also do not want to lose...Raigh...If you lose your life..." Her staff still shone ever so brightly as the healing magic finally stopped Raigh's bleeding and pain.

"Idiot! Those Bern bastards would never kill me!" He ranted again as he felt his vitality returned back to his body, forgetting the recent moment that his life was on a very verge of oblivion. "You, on the other hand will kick the bucket whenever a spear poke you! So listen to me and fall back and meet Roy and the others! Those bastards are still coming!" Raigh yelled as they both heard the stomping of the ground—which meant that the cavalries are closing on them.

Sophia closed her eyes, before she answered. When she opened her eyes, a firm resolve could be seen in her usually meek and empty eyes.

"No..." She said firmly to Raigh as she stopped the flow of magic from her healing staff as she already finished healing him.

"What?" He couldn't believe what he just heard.

"No! I will not...leave you alone...if I die...then so be it...but I will never...let myself or you die." She said with a firm tone as she clutched her Luna tome, preparing for the upcoming battle.

"Look, why are you doing this? My wounds are already closed. I can fight again! Don't you think I'm some kind of kid who needs to be protected!" Raigh stood and countered her words.

"Because...when you made an oath...to protect me...i also...do the same...to myself...I wanted to protect you too...to keep you away from danger...because it was not just you...who felt the same way towards me..." She declared, her lilac gaze piercing through his emerald one.

At that time, Raigh could see it. He finally saw it.

She also grew strong like him. He always knew that behind her meekness, there is a very strong will inside her, probably from the experience of hundreds years of living. But this war also strengthened her. Now he found in her eyes, the same unbreakable will to protect him, as he did for her.

"Sophia...you..." Raigh was at loss of words for a moment, nearly acknowledging her declaration. But in the end, Raigh would always be Raigh, and his cynicism won the outer battle.

"Fine then...do what you want! See if I care what happens to you!" He remarked cynically as he clutched his Fenrir tome. The one that she gave to him some while ago. He never admitted it, but this was the first time he used it in battle, because he instinctively felt an attachment to that tome she gave him.

Raigh stared to the distance, where the cavalry was charging towards them, he cursed when they both split in midway to pincer them. "Here they come!"

"Yes..."

"This is going to be bad, Sophia, back to back!" He ordered her, which she complied by standing behind him, her back pressed to his. It was the only way to survive this onslaught.

Not waiting for the cavalry to get close to them, Raigh unleashed a blast of dark magic from his hand, which knocks out one of the Paladin from his steed. Sophia also did the same to the charging cavalry.

But it was not enough to stop their charge.

The Bern soldiers encircled the two Druids, trapping them as their original tactics, attacking both druids ferociously, throwing axes, lunging spears and poleaxes, slashing swords, and unleashing wind blades at them.

"Gah!" Raigh shouted as a hand axe grazed his arm, leaving a deep gash. Raigh stumbled and fell to one knee on the ground. One of the soldiers took the opportunity to lunge his Silver-coated lance to the young Druid. But to Raigh's luck, the tip of the spear stopped just before it reached his abdomen, with the soldier futilely shook his body, resisting the unknown grip that had befallen him.

It was Sophia.

Raigh looked back to see Sophia's eyes flashed with light. He had seen it before. She told him that it was probably from her dragon blood, which enabled her to cast more potent magic. It was shown by not only the soldier that was attacking Raigh became frozen, but a number of them surrounding them was experiencing the same thing, all of them have the same sign of elder magic. Some of the soldiers immediately backed in fear and caution after seeing the Nabatan Prophetess' power.

Sophia began to speak the incantations "Ancient magic long forgotten...Dark cloud bearing the flash of dark lightning...heed my call and emerge once again...! Genspenst!"

After the enchantments had finished, a cloud of darkness formed in the sky, then a thunder with purplish color rain down on to the ground. Each of the soldiers that paralyzed by the mark was zapped by the dark thunder, leaving nothing but ash in their wake.

After the spell finished, Sophia gasped in exhaustion, her slim hands trembled slightly in reaching the heal staff at her hip. She had used the power before, but seeing Raigh gotten hurt like that made her did drastic things without thinking. She thought that Luna should have been enough, but she had to use one of the most powerful tome that she brought with her from Arcadia. Though she decimated a large number of enemies in one shot, exhaustion began to envelop her body.

"...Raigh...your wound..." She activates the staff, pouring her magical energy to the deep gash at his upper arm. The wound closed and the bleeding stopped after a short while. She had to take this opportunity, because the enemy was baffled by her performance, though it seemed that they are starting to get their morale back and started to attack again.

"Sophia! Look out!" Raigh shouted as he shoves her body to the right, preventing the javelin from impaling her, but ended up torn her long gown slightly and left a horizontal gash on the side of her chest. Apparently the exhaustion made her lose a bit of focus from the battle.

"Ah..." Sophia winced as she realized her wound.

"Give me that heal staff, now!" Raigh demanded, snatching the staff from her before channeling his own energy into the staff, healing the cut Sophia had. After that, Raigh assumed back his position as many of the remaning soldiers were starting to attack again.

"Thank you...Raigh..."

"Less talking, more paying attention to the battle!" He shouted as put on his battle stance, one hand holding the tome. "I promised you...that I will protect you, absolutely. You'll going to come out at this alive...even though I ended up as a corpse." He said as he began to prepare for the continuing attack.

Sophia shook her head. "I will also...protect you with my life...Just as you want to protect me...I too will put my life on the line...so Raigh could live." She followed him soon after, with her back pushing back against his.

"Hmph. Try not to get in my way, then!"

Then, the rest of the battle was fought by them with the same strategy as before. Both Raigh and Sophia covered each other's backs, dodging and warning for attacks they couldn't keep up by themselves, protecting each other, attacking each other's adversaries, and used the heal staff on each other whenever they are wounded, sometimes their hands touched with each other in the process. The battle they fought raged for half an hour before the charge finally stopped.

Their battlefield was littered by bodies of now deceased Bern soldiers, leaving only few of them. Raigh could see that the few warriors that left were hesitant to fight. After all they did defeat a garrison of Bern's finest. It would be strange if a normal human being didn't feel anything after that.

But of course, it goes both ways. The both druids weren't untouched either. Exhaustion could be seen clearly from Raigh and Sophia's face, their breathing got more difficult as the time goes, their bodies and thick robes are battered by the assault, with burn marks and small cuts filled their bodies. They also had lost their heal staff, Raigh insisted that Sophia got the last one, despite his wounds. And their tomes are not exactly at their peak condition. It was clear that they couldn't drag this battle for much longer. But as they say, every dark cloud has their own silver lining, the battle seemed to be near over. The screech of Wyverns as Bern's Wyvern Lords soar through the sky had stopped, the flash of magic that casted, from thunders to cone of fire had ceased, and the screams and battle cries that echoed from the distance had lessened. Judging by the lack of Wyvern Lords, it seemed that the army had been successful in pushing Bern's attack back.

"Sophia..." He briefly held Sophia's arm as their back was still glued to each other. "Don't ever leave my side."

"...I will not..." She replied as both of them readied their tome for Bern's final assault.

"Let's finish these soldiers, then we'll catch up with others."

"Yes..."

The remaining Bern Paladins let out a patriotic warcry before charging both of them again. Raigh charged the Fenrir spell. He noticed at the end that the magical runes in that tome had lost their colour. That meant the tome would be reduced to ash after he used it. He cursed mentally. That was a gift...from Sophia. The book that made him promised to protect her. The book that made them knew each other. Sophia never knew that Raigh had never used it in battle since she gave him that book. He never admitted it, even to himself, but he always treasured that book. And it would be gone after this.

Damn. He thought. But it was to protect her. He had to do this.

When he was about to finish the incantation, the sky was roaring as a thunderbolt blasted the two riders to ash. At the same time, the three paladins that charged Sophia was downed by a flurry of arrows and a blast of fire.

"There you are!"

Raigh spun to see Roy came out from the small woods behind them. There was also Lilina, Wolt, the Berserker Gonzalez, his twin brother Lugh, and many Etrurian Paladins and Valkryies.

"...Lord Roy? Lady Lilina...and the others too..." Sophia opened her mouth, surprised at their sudden coming. She concluded that Lugh and Wolt must be the ones to help her. Apparently the heat of the battle made both of them didn't realize that the battle is near to over.

"Raigh! Sophia! You're safe!" Lugh ran to give a bone-crushing hug to his twin. "We were so worried! You two handled those Bern cavaliers by yourself?"

Raigh forcefully let himself go from his clingy brother. "That hurts! Anyway, why are you so surprised? Those Bern bastards are limitless! I figured you have fought twice as us by now!" He eyed the group.

"No, we're here because we saw black lightning and figured it may be you or Sophia...only the two of you have the skill to use that spell in our army. We tried to help but Bern hindered us. So you both are the reason why those large groups of cavaliers and Wyvern Lords that the fliers scouted didn't get to other groups..." Roy explained as he looked uneasily at the great number of bodies surrounding both of them.

"Huh?" Raigh looked at Roy and the others confusedly.

"You both were a very big help to us." The Pheraen Lordling smiled. "But next time, please regroup with us rather than being suicidal." Roy chuckled before he reprimanded both of them.

Sophia bowed and apologized while Raigh snorted at Roy's comment.

"Well, you two have been a very great help to others, so I think I could let it go for this time. Now come on, the other groups are pushing Bern back and we have to regroup!" Roy ordered as they continued their march.

"Raigh, Sophia, come on!" Lugh shouted.

"...Raigh...shall we go...?"

"Yeah..."

* * *

The two druids walked out of Roy's tent, which was located at the center of the campsite. They had won the battle, but their loss was also great. It was more like a pyrrhic victory for them, as their loss was roughly equal to Bern's and they were forced to halt their march to wait for the reinforcement from Lycian League and Etrurian soldiers. Roy had expressed a deep gratitude to both of them because apparently their 'suicidal' act (as Roy put it) had significantly cut their losses. Of course it was dumb luck that both of them were at that location when Bern decided to attack.

But Raigh hated it that their exploits had been spread towards the soldiers. They could feel some people eyeing them as they walked across the camp. He was never one that craves attention and of course, neither does Sophia.

They both walked in a rather awkward silence until Raigh decided to break it when they arrived near her tent.

"Hey, Sophia." Raigh gruffly called her name.

"Raigh...what is it?"

"About before, I can't believe you came back. What were you thinking? You could be killed at that time. It was dumb luck that both of us survived that garrison Roy told us."

"...Raigh was alone...that was why I came back...I wanted to protect you...just like you protected me." She answered.

"Look, I already told you I don't need to be protected, you on the other hand—" He countered but she cut it off.

"Relationship...and devotion...goes for both ways...When you promised to protect me..."Sophia averted her gaze to his emerald eyes. "...I feel the same way...as you do...that is why."

Raigh fell silent after hearing those words. Maybe he was the one who's selfish? Was he too focused on himself to realize that he wasn't just the one that has all those feelings for her? He didn't know for sure what he felt towards her. But strangely, he was never once bothered by it. In fact, he decided to embrace that feeling for her. And he knew that she feel the same.

Maybe, the oath to protect really goes both ways as they both considered each other as the person who is important to themselves, so does their natural desire to protect.

This is what he forgot.

"Hmph. You're probably the most idiotic person I've ever met. What kind of weakling that spouts nonsense about protecting others?"

"..." Sophia didn't answer him. She wasn't even offended by his words, as she could see his true nature. Behind his 'insults' were actually a warm feeling of concern and protectiveness.

"But..." He continued as a faint shade of pink creeped on his cheeks. "I don't...dislike it, if it's you."

Sophia couldn't help but to smile.

"I want to stay...by your side...I feel strong...just by becoming near you...I feel that...i am strong enough...to protect you." She said to him.

Raigh muttered silently, it was almost as if was a whisper. "...Me too."

"Hm?"

"No, nothing...I'll...see you tomorrow." With that, he went away, leaving her alone just outside her tent, he knew that both of them was very exhausted by that battle. All he wanted to do is rest and forget all happened this day.

Smiling, Sophia silently muttered a 'good night' before she went inside her tent. War may be terrible, but as they say, there were always silver lining at every dark cloud.

For her, this battle today had made them grow closer to each other.

And that's all she needed. Because they knew their love for each other is that what drove them to that solemn oath.

The Oath to Protect

* * *

 **A/N**

 **I was inspired by the pixiv Novel of Raigh x Sophia with a same theme .You could look it up at PIXIV if you wanted, but I'm a bit lazy :P, so I'll leave you to look it for yourself, since it was Japanese, I couldn't remember the title.**

 **Also, that book Raigh treasured is a bonus. I figured to add it at the final conversation, but I declined because it would make it too long. So I used it as a spicing before Raigh's final attack on the soldiers.**

 **Anyway, I will appreciate any Rate and Review you guys give. As always, you can correct my grammar if there's wrong (not a native).**

 **And be sure to ship Raigh and Sophia. :)**


	5. Thousand Years Apart

**Thousand Years Apart**

 **A/N**

 **Some points to consider :**

 **1\. Background of this story is before the march towards Shrine of Seals**

 **Oath to Protect**

 **Rating : K+**

 **Genre : Romance/Angst**

 **Pairings ; Raigh x Sophia.**

 **Word Count : 1700+**

* * *

 ** _"Where will the eternal and mortal meet? Surely not in this world, for there are chasm of thousand years apart. Where, o, the eternal and mortal meet? In the life eternal will be." - Sayings of Nabata_**

Sophia sat near the creek at the outskirts of the camp, dipping her leg in the running flow of water while staring at the horizon of the majestic plains of Bern. The views in front of her symbolized the beauty of nature that she never seen before in most of her life. At the edge of her sight, there was a thick of woods that covered the far-sight of one of great mountains of Bern. The sky shone with a bright blue color as there were no clouds clogging the ray of the sun.

The majestic view somewhat calmed the anxiety and heaviness of her heart. The war had progressed quite far and it was just a matter of time before they march into the Shrine of Seals that was not far from their camping site. But that also meant her time with Raigh would also come to an end. She had grown strong feelings for the green-haired Druid and she wanted to stay with him, but she had also forgotten one thing; they she and Raigh weren't the same. They were thousand years apart. She was a half-dragon and he was a human, it would never work.

She knew more than everyone about it. She had lost so many human friends, so many loved ones, even her father to the merciless embrace of death without any power to prevent it. That anguish for many decades...had caused her to give up of discovering love and companionship for beings that was different than her – the Elder was correct, eternity and mortality, was never meant to be together. Sophia, as a half-breed of dragons and humans, was fated to be alone. Staying with dragons and humans would only breed more sadness and problems.

But her feelings for that boy...contradicted her understanding. They were different and Sophia knew better, and yet, she found herself wanted to cherish those feelings for him. She tried to push it back, but it just grew deeper every time she tried it. It was not fair, she thought. Why did a person with such kind heart and devotion towards her have to be so different?

She loved him. She wanted to spend the eternity with him. But it was also impossible.

It was just not fair.

Sophia looked above, the blue sky hosted a group of birds that migrated from the Bernese mountains. She smiled sullenly, looking at the birds above. They were so...free. They could be with their kind without worry. Sophia was proud of her heritage, but there was times when she hoped she was born a normal girl. If she was a normal girl now, maybe it wouldn't be so hard for her to sort out this problem.

Sophia sighed as she returned her sight to the meadows before her. If only she could traverse that thousand years...

As she grew even deeper in her thoughts, a shadow of a familiar figure loomed behind her.

"Hey." The figure called her, which snapped her from her train of thoughts. She looked back to see the boy that she was thinking about standing before her with his trademark frowning face.

Raigh.

"...Raigh?" She felt a twinge of pain when she called his name, but she managed a small smile nonetheless. "...Good morning, Raigh." She greeted him politely as usual. He just scoffed at her patronizing (in his understanding) act. Rather than returning her nice gesture, his face became more irritated.

"What are doing here? Are you going out of camp by yourself again? I told you to ask others or me to come with you, right? It's dangerous! You should pay more attention to yourself! Do I have to tell you that every time through your head?" The young druid's tone is harsh, but there was a hidden deep concern behind it.

Sophia looked down, not because she was depressed by his 'lectures', but rather because she couldn't help but to sense his caring side for her again. It just made it harder for her. However, Raigh misunderstood this, thinking it was the latter. He relented and softened his face before walking ahead more to sit with her.

They were silent for a long moment. Raigh thought about apologizing to her, but he was too prideful for that. Instead, he figured that he'd stay with her for a moment like always.

"Raigh is so kind...isn't it?" After a while, Sophia finally muttered some words. A melancholic tone sounded strongly in her speech. It was the same words that built their relationship together. Their start was rough, but after she called him kind, Raigh started to thought of her as someone that was important to him, and she stopped being afraid of him. That heart...hadn't changed at all, if it changed at all, it was Raigh was more comfortable showing it, at least to her.

"...Huh?" Raigh raised his eyebrows in confusion, as if Sophia had recited a foreign tongue or something. He then scoffed after understanding what she had said. "Kind? Hmph, right. You're still at that nonsense? I told you—I'm not kind...that was just what strange things strange people like Lugh said about me." He forcefully added a harsh tone to his words.

Sophia smiled sadly. "It was because of that...i was able to be friends...with Raigh..." Her foot moved to lightly kick the surface of the creek.

"...But it is sad...isn't it...?" Her voice began to break.

"What are you talking about?" Raigh eyed the Nabata Prophetess beside him, noticing the change of expression she had. She usually didn't show this much emotion, even to him. But now, at the mere glance, everyone would know that there was a deep sadness in her voice.

"I...lost my father...at a very young age. I remembered that...i didn't grow much...at the time between when my father died...and when I was born...it was almost half a century..."

Raigh continued to listen to her, not speaking any words himself.

"I saw...children became the elderly, many of them were persons close to me...then I saw them dying in their bed...and i attended their placement to their final resting place...I lost...so many persons...i was close to...i know it was just a matter of time...because we were thousand years apart..."

"..." Raigh shifted his glance to the running water below. He knew where this conversation was going to end.

"...And..." Sophia's voice creaked. She could feel wetness in her eyes. "I...now have to...lose Raigh...in the end too..."

At that time Sophia couldn't hold back the stream of tears that was building in her eyes. A drop of tears stained her long bluish dress with dampness as her tears continued to fall.

"Hey! Why are you crying?" Raigh was panicking when he saw the Nabata Prophetess crying. He instinctively pulled her shoulder so that he could see her face clearly.

"I am scared...i am very scared that...death will come to Raigh in the end...i'm so afraid that time will take Raigh away...You will grow up, become old...and you will eventually leave me..." She continued to sob, tears flowing freely from her lilac eyes that gazed to his emerald ones. "I know I shouldn't have...felt this way towards you...and yet...i don't want to throw it away..."

"You..." For the first time Raigh was at loss for words. He didn't know what to say. Usually he would put in a snide comment for her, but of course he's decent enough to relent saying that to a crying girl in front of him, even though this was the first time Raigh experienced this kind of sappy things (in his words) in the stories that Father Lucius used to tell the others.

"I know...we are a thousand years apart...but...if there was still a chance...i wanted to stay with Raigh...through the eternity...I...don't want to lose you..." Sophia still continued to sob until she could feel warmth emanating in her body. When she realized what happened, Raigh was holding her hand in his.

"...R-Raigh...?" She asked, shocked at Raigh's sudden action.

"Idiot. That was the problem? I knew that from long ago. That's why..."

"Raigh...?"

"That's why I decided to search the secret of the eternity in my journey. If there was an eternity somewhere like what the Archsage Athos had..." He paused for a second before continuing as he raised his arm in front of their faces, as if to complete an oath.

"But...to achieve that...it would be...near impossible..."

"The Archsage achieved it...i don't see why I can't. I will find it, absolutely. Then you won't have to cry again." For the first time since she had met him, Sophia sensed that he was being honest with himself. His words were truly the expression of what was in his heart. His tough façade was all but gone at that time.

Hearing the sincerest words of his heart, Sophia returned his grip on her hand, her sobbing and tears finally stopped flowing, leaving a swell in her beautiful lilac eyes.

"Raigh..." All that she could mutter was his name.

"If it is you, I don't care if it's thousand years or million years apart. I will cross it to stay with you. I promise you that."

"I...also don't want to give up. I wanted...to trust Raigh. I wanted to trust...even though it seemed impossible, i..." She gave a fierce and somewhat firm gaze to the young Druid, her grip steadily hardened. "I wanted to be with Raigh...forever. So..."

"Then have faith in me. This will be the last time you have to cry. I promise that." Sophia saw a strong will in his eyes. She realized that it was not just her that thought about all these things. He already thought about it deeply. The promise he spoke to her at that time was not merely a product of a whimsical thought, but a commitment that he had forged quite long ago.

A commitment which he put all of his heart and soul into.

"Yes..."

Sophia had lost her hope for a place to belong decades ago, but at that time, she could feel a change in her heart—that is, she started to hope again, regaining back the one that she had lost. It was all because she knew one thing.

Raigh would cross the chasm of their age, even a thousand years apart.

Then, a strong wind of the Bern plainsland blew across the two Druids as their grip on their hands strengthened, as if the nature itself had become the witness of their oaths.

* * *

 **FIN**

 **A/N : A short fic. Not many things to be explained or add in this one.**

 **Sorry for the late update. Anyway, Rate and Reviews are always welcome.**


	6. The Priestess' Smile

**The Priestess' Smile**

 **A/N**

 **Some points to consider :**

 **1\. Background of this story is before the March to Aquelia (Etrurian Capital)**

 **2\. This fic is something if GBA series FE has an 'S' support. Yeah, I know that their supports in the game is dull. This is a mere denial of that fact.**

* * *

 **Oath to Protect**

 **Rating : K+**

 **Genre : Friendship/Romance**

 **Pairings ; Raigh x Sophia.**

 **Word Count : 2800+**

* * *

"Hey Raigh! Raigh! He—y! Raigh!" Raigh sighed and put his reading on hold when he heard that loud voice. There was only one person in this continent with that kind of loud, annoying voice.

"...What do you want, Lugh?" He closed the book before turned to face his twin.

"Raigh! Mr. Merlinus said it's our turn to sort the inventory today! Let's go!" Lugh cheerily said, tugging the shaman's hand.

"...I don't feel like it. Just pretend that we forgot or something. I don't like that Merlinus guy much anyway." He said grumpily, setting himself glued on the ground.

Lugh frowned. "Come on, Raigh, drop that sullen attitude and let's do our part for this army, you know, you could feel good at everything you do as long as you're happy about—"

"Fine, just please don't do your speech in front of me. It makes me want to vomit." Raigh sharpened the edge of his lips in annoyance and disbelief over his twin's optimism.

"Yes!" Lugh grinned cheerily from ear to ear, forcefully pulling his twin.

Raigh only sighed and dragged himself to follow his brother, there was no escaping Lugh when he became like this. The green-haired twins then walked through the campsite not far from the Etrurian capital. On their way, they saw many people walking about, doing their own tasks. The camp was very busy at that time. It was understandable, since the invasion of the capital of the Etruria will not be long. The rebels of Etruria had been pushed back and the Lycian army had acquired the edge, thanks to Knight General Percival's defection from the rebels. There are many weapon shipments and regiments joining the prepared siege of the capital, so there were many things to do.

When they reached the edge of the camp where the shipments of new tomes was carried, Raigh noticed a familiar long-lilac hair at the far sight of his eyes, the figure of the girl seemed to be entering the nearby small forest a bit far from the campsite. Raigh frowned, slanting his eyes to confirm what he had just seen.

An expression of bewilderment and dread was shown on his face. Did he just saw her walking by herself to that forest? The place that they were staying was quite close to the bandit's den. In fact they attempted a (failed) raid yesterday, and now that girl is walking by herself. To the forest where there might be bandits nearby.

"What's the matter, Raigh?" Lugh asked as he followed the direction that Raigh looked upon.

"Huh?" Lugh dragged his head upfront to see more clearly, noticing the familiar figure. "...That's the Nabata Priestess, isn't it?"

Raigh cursed silently. "Damn, that idiotic girl!" Without knowing, his feet immediately sprinted to the direction of the outside of the camp, bypassing the carriage and the perimeter of the camp to the forest where the Nabata Priestess had wandered off to.

"HEY! Raigh! Wait up! Where are you going!?" Lugh shouted after the running Raigh, but the younger twin didn't hear his brother's call, instead he continued to run to the forest.

Not for long, the young shaman arrived at the edge of the forest, but Sophia had entered it for quite a while now. He wasted no time in entering it. Though the forest was small and was more of a woodland than a forest, but the remnants of the raiding party might have stayed there. Raigh took off his Flux tome and searched inside the forest, looking for a sign of the lilac-haired girl if she was nearby.

"Hey! Sophia! Where are you? Answer me!" He shouted loudly, his voice echoing through the great tree barks inside the forest, but there was no answer. He tried to run through the forest, but the roots that sprouted off the ground and the dead leaves that was everywhere hampered his movement. Raigh cursed mentally before repeating his search, calling her name several times as he walked through the woods.

For some reason he couldn't find her after a long search. Raigh sighed in exhaustion and decided to sat the bottom of one of the tree trunks in the forest before continuing his search.

"Damn...where could she be?" He muttered. Suddenly Raigh thought the worst case possible of her already being kidnapped by the remnants of the raiding bandits that attacked their camp yesterday. He shook her head as he blocked his carnal thoughts.

 _No._ He thought. She had still to be in this forest. She had to. He had to find her.

"Why am I doing this...?"

Raigh wasn't sure why did he cared about her like that. It truly wasn't like him to care for others in his view. Yet despite barely knowing her, he found himself cannot leave her alone just like that. Why? Why did he do this? First there was yesterday he saved her from that attacking bandit party, and then this. Why? Raigh shook his head. He realized it was not the time to think about that. He'd have the time to thought about it to his heart's content after he found her.

As he was about to cut his deep thought and began his search once more, a shadow loomed behind him. The figure slowly walked to the spot he was sitting at that time.

"...Raigh...?" A soft voice called on his name.

"Whoa!" Raigh let out a startled voice as he jumped and fell on his behind to the spouting roots of a tree nearby and groaned in pain. When he regained his composure, he turned around to see a familiar face with a familiar lilac hair and eyes.

It was Sophia.

"You...Where...How did?" He asked confusedly.

"Good afternoon, Raigh..." She bowed greeted him nonchalantly, as if nothing happened.

There was a short period of silence, but when he calmed and irked enough to process what had happened, he stood up slowly and looked rather fiercely into her eyes, forgetting his recent disorientation in a heartbeat.

"Don't 'good afternoon' me! Are you stupid? What are you doing in a place like this by yourself? You could've been killed by those bandits we fought yesterday! Honestly! You're probably the stupidest person I've ever met, what kind of people wandered by herself to a forest after a skirmish?" He ranted on her face.

Sophia wasn't even offended by his 'rant'. She kept her blank face and stared at his emerald eyes, as if she was looking inside his mind.

"I wanted...to look at the outside world...so I went by myself..." She replied rather weakly.

"Idiot! That's not a good reason to wander off by yourself! You could've been killed, you know that? Try to look after yourself more! At least bring someone with you if you really want to look at the 'outside world' or something!" He yelled frustratedly. Honestly, what kind of Priestess that had so little of her own safety?" He continued to rant, his loud voice echoed through the forest.

Sophia pondered on the young shaman's words for a moment before she looked away from him, setting her sights on the lush greens of the forest. She had never seen so much trees, plants, and life...growing in such an enclave. It was understandable, since she grew up and spent most of her long life in the desert, living with nothing but few other life-forms that could endure the cruel climate of the desert. Yet when she went out with Roy's army, she finally managed to see those other things she read – forests, lakes, seas, mountains, rivers, grass plains, and many other bounties of nature.

To be honest with herself, she never knew why did the Elder and the others said the outside world is dangerous. It has so many beauties of nature that sight could behold, there are many 'tribes' from many backgrounds and cultures interacting with each other, and there are also amazing people like Roy of Pherae and many others in the army. Sure there was bad people also, but there were so many things that the outside world had to offer. She hoped that one day—when the conflict between humans ended, they could go back to they used to, before the scouring.

Raigh became irritated of the Priestess ignoring her. "Are you listening to me!?"

"...It is so beautiful, isn't it?" She ignored his words.

"Huh?"

"The forest...i only read them in books...but now I could see it by myself...how come so much life...so much trees could gather...in small enclaves such as this...? Raigh must have seen a lot of it...since you are from the outside...i'm a little jealous..."

Raigh was getting more irked by the Priestess' comment. Did she just ignore him again? And she changed the subject just like that!

"We are not talking about trees, damn it! We're talking about you walking around by yourself inside a possible bandit territory! Seriously, can't you just hear others or take care of yourself for a change?" Raigh stomped the ground frustratingly. Of course by his previous encounters with her, he knew that she was an odd one. He didn't mind her being odd, since he was not a 'normal guy' either, but her lack of attentiveness got on his nerves.

"Try to be more attentive of your surroundings next time! You were lucky I was there when that bandit attacked you, or else we'd already dug the grave for you right now! And now you're wandering alone in the forest where there could be bandits when you were just lucky to be saved! Are you a complete idiot?" He raised his voice as his emerald gaze glared on her lilac ones.

"But..."

"Don't 'But' me! You're as slow as a slug and you can't sense danger for Elimine's sake! Stop making people worry about you all the time! We're all going to get it from that Roy if you kicked the bucket! Now, do you understand? Or do I have to spell it word per word?"

Sophia didn't answer him. She casted down her head, her fingers was fiddling nervously on her bluish dress. A hint of sadness and regret could be seen on her face.

Raigh sighed. "Honestly, you...what I have to do with you...?" Raigh's tone softened somewhat after seeing her regretful face, realizing that he might have gone too far. They fell into a rather awkward silence, Sophia still fiddled her dress, unable to look at the still-annoyed shaman and Raigh suddenly found that the forest scenery was a perfect distraction.

"Hey...you hear me?"Raigh finally broke the silence as his face turned again to the direction of hers. "Look, you being an airhead is probably already become an incurable disease, so it couldn't be helped. So..."

Sophia looked back up to his face, sensing a change of emotion in him.

"Next time, try to stay in my sight!" He raised his voice again as he finished his sentence, his emerald sight glaring sharply at the Priestess' lilac eyes.

"Eh...?" She looked back up in surprise.

"D-Don't misunderstand me! It wasn't for your sake! It's just I still owe you for that book you gave me!" The green haired shaman said as he gave another glare at her, though this time an expression of embarrassment was quite clear on his face, evidenced by a slight blush on his cheeks. "And you're going to let me pay my debts to you!"

At that moment, Sophia's face brightened up. Did Raigh just...offered to protect her? But she didn't want to trouble him, especially because he was an 'outsider'. She shook her head. "I...don't want to trouble...you..."

Her answer merely ticked him off further. "Didn't you hear me before? I told you it wasn't an offer! I'd look after you in battle whether you like it or not! I told you I'm not a beggar, I have my pride." He finished standoffishly as he glared at her lilac eyes again.

Sophia pondered his words for a while, without her knowing her lips curved to form a smile. He really couldn't hide his true feelings, couldn't he? Sophia let out a small laugh shortly afterwards for the first time in a while.

"...What's so funny?" The green-haired shaman was still fumed.

She smiled as her lilac eyes locked with his emerald ones. "Raigh is...very kind...isn't it?"

"What?"

"...I came here alone...with the knowledge that there is no danger in here..." She paused as her smile grew wider. She was initially scared at the young shaman, thinking him as an outsider and such, not to mention his rude personality. But when she knew he had a kind heart, it suddenly changed. Just like Roy and the others, Raigh proved to her that not all the outsiders are bad. He acts tough and rude, but actually was very kind in heart. But she didn't even have to use her power to know that Raigh was genuinely worried about her, and it was not because the book she gave him.

It was then that she felt she wanted to stay with him. It seemed that they were finally friends now.

"...But I am so happy...that Raigh...was worried about me." The priestess smiled kindly at the young green-haired shaman.

Raigh suddenly felt his face was heating up with that smile of her. It took all of his willpower to have his inner self deny that she had a beautiful smile. Come to think of it, Raigh never saw her smiling, not even to those from her village. She was always had that blank stare for a face, and now she was smiling to him. And Raigh was never good of someone, let alone a girl, smiling at him.

Suddenly he could feel a strange feeling on his chest, but the young shaman wasn't sure what the feeling was. He summoned enough power to push it back and put on his standoffish façade once more.

"Don't spout nonsense like that! I already told you it wasn't for your sake!" He said loudly and outrageously, almost like a shout. His face was a total antithesis of his words though, being all red like that.

Sophia ignored him as her right hand went to clutch her chest nervously. It appeared that it wasn't only him that felt those strange feelings. "...Raigh...should be more honest...about your own feelings..."

"Ugh!" Raigh cringed at her words. He thought for a second to continue the spat, but relented in the end. Their conversation was getting awkward and they made a lot of noise. If there wasn't a bandit then, they might have already drawn their weapons to ambush them now. He drew a long breath as he neutralized his reddening face before turning away to the direction of which he came from.

"Fine, believe whatever you want...you're just as naïve as Lugh. Really, what kind of idiot who would've thought there is a man selfless enough to help for others?" He paused for a moment. "Hmph, but maybe it's nice...to hear that kind of things once in a while."

"Raigh..." Sophia's face brightened up.

"Now come on, we're getting out of this place." He motioned her to follow after him.

Sophia shook her head lightly. "...Why don't we stay...for a while...? I wanted to see more...of the outside world...please...just a bit longer..."She said as she sat on the floor of the forest, making a cracking sound from the cracking leaves on the ground.

Raigh prepared to yell at her but seeing her pleading face made him closed his mouth. Suddenly that strange feeling he felt before resurfaced again. Instead he sat down on the ground while looking away from her.

Sophia couldn't help but to smile once again. It was a very strange day, she couldn't remember the last time she smiled. For all she knew, she thought she had forgotten how to convey that emotion, but...now an unlikely person like him made her remember that emotion she used to have. Twice in a day, even.

Maybe the outside world was not so bad after all. After all, there was a people like Raigh. There was a people that could make her smile.

"Raigh..."

"What?"

"Thank you..."

"It's nothing..." He said as he turned away from her once more. He decided that seeing her smiling face was more than enough for a day.

And now there was one more person for him to protect.

The two shamans sat on the forest ground as the sound of nature played on their ears. The Nabata Priestess then looked at her friend beside him, who was still looking away. She decided that she would try to smile more often from now on.

After all, Raigh liked her smile. And that brings her happiness just as much as looking the 'outside world'.

* * *

 **FIN**

 **A/N**

 **And it's finished. Yes, I know this fic has so much sweetness behind it. I just love to torture Tsundere. This fic is something that was close to 'S' support, so i made Raigh still acted rudely to Sophia. It was also made at the time where Raigh's tsundere façade was peeled off (like in his support with Lugh). Sad that he doesn't have that much moment with Sophia. :(**

 **And yes, it's also the moment where the two shaman started to fall in love with each other.**

 **.**

 **Anyway, I will appreciate any Rate and Review you guys give. As always, you can correct my grammar if there's wrong (not a native).**

 **And be sure to ship Raigh and Sophia.**


	7. Mother

**Lilac and Emerald**

Disclaimer : I do not own Fire Emblem.

Cover Image : Credit to Serina_Ranshi (I almost forgot!)

 **A/N**

 **Some points to consider :**

 **Background of the story is : Raigh and Sophia went to travel the continent together (Take it as the alternate ending of Raigh's)**

* * *

 **Mother**

 **Rating : K+**

 **Genre : Friendship/Family, with Light Romance in the end**

 **Pairings ; Raigh x Sophia.**

 **Word Count : 2200+**

* * *

A cold breeze whispered through the air as the sun rose from the East between the mountains, gracing the woodland with its shining yellow light. It was the sign of dawn of new day for every living being. The green-haired druid was not an exception. The light of dawn shone on his still-closed eyes, waking the young druid up from his sleep. He let out a long yawn before sitting up to cure his drowsiness. Slowly, he walked out of his tent to find similar one next to him, though this one is empty, because the person using it was not there.

The green-haired druid, Raigh raised his eyebrow in confusion, where could she be? Usually she would be sitting near the tent to wait him to wake up, reading or doing anything that she would do. She was always up early, because as a half-dragon she didn't need as much rest as normal humans, or at least that was what she told him.

The fact that she wasn't there irked him. Where could she be? He had told her countless times that it was dangerous to wander off by herself, but no matter how many times he told her about it, she ended up doing it all over again. Raigh sighed, complaining to himself and started to look for her. He wondered sometimes on what did he get himself into. Why did he get stuck with this girl? She still had that bad habit of disappearing and appearing suddenly. It's exasperating.

Well, he's the one that asked her to come with him on his journey, so he had to put up with it. After all, he was used to worry about that girl back when they were still in Lycian Alliance Army.

Raigh looked around the woodlands they had set up camp last night. He remembered that they saw a small brook and a cliff near the woods nearby. She had to be at one of those. She came with him partly to see the 'outside world' after all. Raigh massaged his temple as he thought where she could possibly be now, the brook or the cliff? After a moment of thinking, Raigh decided he'd look for her at the cliff first. She did ask him yesterday if they could see it in the morning, and he did overslept a bit, so she might go ahead by herself

Of course that still didn't excuse her going alone. There could be bandits or anything in the woods. Raigh might not realize it, but despite his best to act as a total uncaring jerk, he was actually a chronic worrier. A girl like Sophia would only give him much burden. He half-ran throughout the clear path of the woods that lead to the cliff. Not for long, he could see the break of the woods, indicated by the ray of sunlight that shone brightly through the opening of the woods.

And his guess was spot on, near the edge of the cliff, there was a girl with a long lilac hair with her face looking at the distance. The young green haired druid immediately called her name when he was already a short distance away from her.

"Hey, Sophia!" The girl realized her name was being called and turned her head to face him. Somehow her face turned pleasant at the sight of the green-haired druid. She gave him a light smile as she saw him running to the spot she was standing on while realizing his rather annoyed expression.

"...Good morning, Raigh..." She bowed and greeted him politely.

Rather than pleased by the girl's gesture, the green haired shaman was annoyed by it.

"Don't good morning me! We've already talked about this before, right? Why did you wander off alone? I told you that this part of the woods is dangerous! What if a bandit or some wild animal attacked you? Are you really that careless about yourself? I told you I'll go with you if you want to see the cliff!"

"Um..." The girl's smile faded, replaced with a nervous look. "But...i don't want to disturb you...you were still sleeping..." She explained.

"That's not a good reason to leave alone, idiot! Try to be more attentive to your surroundings! Honestly, do I have to take care of you every time you wander off alone? You're the older one, for goodness' sake!" Raigh said exasperatedly, fuming himself.

Rather than feeling unpleasant at the druid's rant, instead her lips curved into a light smile once again. She used to be depressed when Raigh scolded her, but she had learnt on how to cherish it. It was one of the rare moments when she could feel Raigh's concern towards her, anyway.

"Do you think this is funny? Why are you smiling?" Raigh half-shouted at the Nabata Priestess.

"...I'm sorry...to trouble you...but I am happy that Raigh is...concerned about me." She smiled as a light blush formed on her. Raigh's face mimicked her soon afterwards.

Her reply made Raigh taken aback. He immediately took his face away from her. "D-Don't be ridiculous! There's no way i'm concerned about you! It's just if something happened to you, I'd lose a person that could help me in my studies!" Raigh finished lamely. Sophia merely continued to smile. He was too obvious.

Sophia looked back to the horizon that could be seen by the edge of the cliff, her smile turned melancholic. "I was...looking at the direction of Nabata...where the winds of the desert blew..."

"Huh?" Raigh recovered his attention. It was true, they were in southern Lycia, so it was near the village of Arcadia. Did she get homesick or something? Come to think of it, it had been a while since they returned to that village. They usually went back to Arcadia every year for the opening of the year festival, and that day was near.

"Are you feeling homesick? We could go back early if you want."

"...No...i was just...thinking about my mother..."

She spoke quietly, her face solemn.

"Your mother?"

"This day is the day she passed away..." She muttered, a tone of bitterness could be heard from her voice.

Now that was something he had never heard before, Raigh thought. He knew that her mother was a dragon, but this was the first time she told him that her mother had died. He knew it of course, he had been to that village, and if she was alive, she'd take him to meet her. At least Raigh had the decency to not ask her about it. He had experiences of losing a loved one, so he didn't want her to feel such terrible thing by bringing it up again.

"..,My mother...i never see her face...She passed when she gave birth to me...Dragons have a difficulty in breeding...it was not uncommon a female will die after giving birth...i lived with my father afterwards...but he..." Sophia closed her eyes as she brushed her tears that was formed off her eyes. "The Elder said that she experienced a terrible bleeding...Yet she still insisted in delivering me to this world..."She spoke weakly, picturing what she thought as the final moments of her mother.

An image of Raigh's mother appeared inside his thought as he heard Sophia's story. Raigh remained silent, knowing that she still hadn't fully spoken her mind.

"...A mother's love...i wish I could experience it more...That is the only love I got from my mother...If only I could experience it more. Maybe, that time, I wished that I wasn't born...I'm kind of jealous of other children... " She turned back to face the green-haired Druid.

"Don't say that kind of stupid thing." Raigh replied, giving her a rather outraged look. "Stop thinking about one that had passed and try to cherish the one that is still alive. That's the reason your mother brought you into this world, right?" He said firmly.

"Yes...i understand now, what my mother wanted at that time...It was just recently..." She said as she looked fondly at the other Druid's emerald eyes. "But I...am jealous of Raigh..."

"Huh?" He raised his eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"It's that...Raigh spent more time with your mother...you must have felt the love of a mother...which I never experienced..." She smiled wistfully, looking down to the ground.

Raigh scoffed as his usual scowl deepened, apparently irked because she had brought the topic that he was thinking about. "Yeah, right." His emerald eyes turned on the panorama that the place had to offer. "You were luckier. My parents left me, I don't know if my mother is still alive or not." A tone of cynicism was concentrated on his voice. "Your mother wouldn't leave you had she survived the childbirth."

"...Raigh." Sophia called out his name, her lilac eyes gazing at his emerald one. "Don't you...want to meet your mother again...if she is still alive?"

In a rare moment, a shade of sadness could be seen on the Druid's face, he quickly change his sullen expression into a scowl the moment he realized it. "She was the one that left me and Lugh. I don't think I would want to meet her. Lugh maybe, but i...there is too many things that happened after that."

"...Is that really what you think...?" Sophia asked.

"..."

Rather than answering her queservtion, Raigh stayed silent, thinking to himself. Why did he felt all those emotions? Did he blame his mother for leaving them? Did he want his mother to take him and Lugh instead? He didn't know. Every time he thought about his mother, there was always a mixed feelings that made him unconfortable.

"You do not...Raigh is a kind person...I'm sure you want to see your mother again..."

Raigh turned back to his companion and scoffed. "Hmph, you still believe that nonsense about me being kind?" He soured his face. "I'm not kind. And i prefer not to meet her again." Raigh paused and sighed, his expression solemn. "There's too much things happened. We...can't be family anymore."

"Raigh...Family is important..."Sophia replied as her expression fell, disappointed by his answer. She knew he never meant it, but she wondered how could he say such a thing to a family.

Raigh did his best to hide his symphatetic look. "Don't make that kind of face...You know that life is not always like a fairy tale. There is always something in this world that is not meant to be. My mother is one of them. We just have to live with it."

"But..." Sophia prepared to argue back, but was cut off by Raigh.

"Look." Raigh swallowed hard. "Maybe, just maybe...you are right in one aspect...if I could help it...i would like better if I grow up like in a normal family...maybe. That's why, I want power so other people don't have to be forced to choose as I do."

"Raigh..." Her face brightened by his words. Her frown slowly turned to a smile.

"S-So, help me to gain more power and stop talking about useless things like this!" He finished lamely as a light blush began to form on his cheeks.

"Yes..."

"Anyway, I wonder, how did your mother looks like?" He asked.

"Eh?"

"I'm just a bit curious, you said she's a dragon, right? What kind of dragon is she?" He inquired curiously, his sight returned to the panorama at the cliff. That's right. Raigh was always fascinated by dragon, isn't he? "Father Lucius always said that I resembled my mother greatly."

"...I never saw my mother...But from what my father and the elder said, her human form...looks very much just like me...They said I am almost identical with my mother, appearance, power, personality, and such..." She explained as her thought returned back to her mother.

"...So basically an airhead and an idiot like you, huh?" He quipped cynically, though a glimpse of dry humor could he heard from his voice. "Not like I have a problem with it, though..."

"I planned to visit...her grave...next time we return to Arcadia..."

Raigh stretched his body, preparing to leave the place. "I'll go with you next time to your mother's grave."

"Eh?" She was mildly surprised by his sudden proposal.

He shot her his annoyed look. "Did you not hear me? I told you I'll come with you next time to see your mother's grave. We'll return to Arcadia after we reach our next journey. " He turned back to the forest path. "Now let's go. You don't want us to return late to Arcadia, don't you?"

Sophia smiled widely at her companion's words. Suddenly, excitement of going back to her birthplace flowed throughout her mind. "Yes...!" She exclaimed as walk to catch up with the green-haired druid.

"Raigh, you know..." Sophia muttered as they both walked through the path of the forest where they had came from.

"What?"

A light blush began to appear on the Priestess' face. "If you could meet my mother...i'm sure she would like you..." Sophia ended his sentence by smiling shyly and knowingly at the young druid.

"Huh?" He gave her a confused look. "What do you mean?"

"...I meant what I meant..." She said cryptically, her smiling not leaving her face.

"What the heck is that supposed to mean?" Raigh asked again, more confusedly this time, wondering what was wrong with the Nabata Priestess.

At that time, Sophia didn't answer him with words, but with a knowing smile, which the green-haired druid still hasn't figure it out to this day.

 **FIN.**

* * *

 **A/N :**

 **And it's finished. This is a short fic and pure fanfic, so I don't think there is much to talk about, except maybe on Sophia's 'like' part. What Sophia meant when her mother would 'like' Raigh is more like a non-romantic fondness, but of course, Sophia meant it to imply that she 'liked' Raigh romantically** **. And bullying Raigh for being dense is fun.**

 **Anyways, rate and reviews are welcome.**

 **Be sure to ship Raigh x Sophia**


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